Secrets Under the Ice
by Cyrus Church
Summary: Deep in the icy desert of Antarctica a UNSC research outpost fell out of contact for 72 hours. Suddenly communications were re-established and a sqaud of marines are sent to investigate. What awaits them as they go to uncover the secrets under the ice?


**Secrets under the Ice**

Chapter 1

Roaring like a great beast on the prowl, the Pelican dropship soared across the white vastness that is the desert of Antarctica. Inside the sealed internal bay, Corporal Remy "Reaper" Deckard sat strapped into one of the many seats that ran along on each side of the compartment. Cradled in his arms was a SRS99AM sniper rifle which he had carried throughout his service in the United Nations Space Command Marine Corps. Every Covenant bastard that had passed through its cross-hairs had been cut down with only one shot to their ugly alien skulls. He considered this weapon a thing of beauty, a bringer of death. Looking up from admiring his arm of justice he gazed around at the others that surrounded him.

Next to him sat Lance Corporal Carl "Doc" Welts, a quiet kid in his mid twenties. He was the team medic and a hell of a one at that. Normally he kept to himself and followed the orders given to him and if anyone got hurt he was there beside them patching up whatever new hole they had acquired. Remy didn't speak to him much, but from what little words that they had exchanged, he considered Doc an okay guy.

On down the line were the twins, Privates Lucas and Malachi O'Neal aka "Weasel" and "Boomer". Two brothers that looked nothing alike. The Weasel looked exactly as his nickname implied; his scrawny frame, short stature, and long nose left little to the imagination. Serving as one of the teams' scouts, the Weasel had proven himself by the valuable intelligence that he had gathered after venturing behind enemy lines. Boomer on the other hand was a monster. Towering over the rest of the squad at six and a half feet he was intimidating even to some of the Grunts that he had slain during the war. Along with the M247H Heavy Machine Gun that he wielded, Boomer was a force to be reckoned with.

To Remy's left sat Sergeant Lloyd Ephraim. This man had proven himself time and again that he could be trusted by charging into heavy enemy fire to save a fellow marine. Remy was proud to call him his friend and would, without hesitation, follow him into the heat of battle no matter how dire it looked. Like Doc, Lloyd tended to keep to himself which seemed rather odd for a sergeant, but that lost him no respect. A calm look was always present on his face, even now, as it appeared that nothing ever got to him. He would wield his M90A 8 gauge shotgun with a quiet resolve as he blew away the Covies or any other threat that fell into his sights. They all had a deep respect for him.

Occupying one the seats opposite of him, Remy looked at Lieutenant David "Boss" Hawke. The Boss had led them for many years now. Times when it looked like there was little hope of survival he found a way to get them out in one piece. Armed with his BR55HB he led his men into combat with no fear or worry of failure. He was a man that would take any measure to ensure a mission was a success and that all of his men got out alive. It wouldn't be a surprise if he ended up as colonel or even general one day.

Alongside the Boss sat Corporal Steve Miner, one of the most dangerous men that Remy had come across. He often voted for the most destructive route when it came to taking out the enemy which often left him and the Boss to be at odds. However, he was also loyal and would in the end follow whatever order that the lieutenant gave. Let Miner go and he'll kill anything in his path that he deems necessary. A good man to have at your sides when things are starting to look sour and no other options had presented themselves.

Then finally there's Corporal Rose "Angel" Meru, sitting directly across from Remy with a M392 Designated Marksman Rifle in hand. She and Remy had known each other since childhood. Enlisting and going through Basic together it was evident that they were more dangerous together than they were alone. Both of them went to sniper school and excelled. Taking turns as sniper and spotter they soon found themselves with the Boss and taking part in some of the most dangerous missions of the Human-Covenant War. Remy would willingly place his life in her hands as she would his.

The eight of them were what made up 2nd Squad of Theta Platoon. Together they had faced some of the darkest days of The War. Countless horrors had passed before their eyes. Ever since The War ended two years ago they hoped they would never have experiences like that pass before their eyes ever again. So far their wish had been granted as they had been taking part in cleanup efforts to restore areas and make them habitable for both military and civilian personnel. However they were recently called out of their community work to take part in a mission that they were already growing wary of. Suddenly the Boss got up from his seat next to the bay door to address his squad.

"Alright people, this op is simple. Seventy-two hours ago a research team at a UNSC outpost in Antarctica went dark. Twelve hours ago contact was reestablished and they began broadcasting saying that they suffered a power failure and that they had lost contact with the lower levels of the facility. Now I'm not taking chances, as you've noticed we're going in combat ready."

Lloyd finally broke his silence, "are there any other military personnel on sight?"

"They only have light security, nothing more than a handful of armed guards. Now our mission is simple. Go in make contact with the scientists and then look for the missing personnel. This should be a piece of cake."

"Since when has anything been a piece of cake?"

Boss snapped his head towards the marine that made the remark, "Stow it Miner. Today's not the day to piss me off."

Remy and the others felt the Pelican dip slightly as it began to make it's decent. The Boss put his hand to his ear as he listened to dropship's crew chief over the comm. turning to Angel; Remy finally voiced what was on his mind.

"If this is a rescue op inside of a closed facility, then why do we need our long-range weapons?"

She just shrugged and smiled at him. Asking the question was rather redundant in the first place, because Remy already knew the answer. The Boss wanted the two of them acting as the lookout. Before the Pelican reached the outpost they would probably be dropped off to take up sniping positions and make sure that there wasn't anything suspicious going on before the main force moved in.

Finally, the Pelican came to a rest and the bay door began to open revealing a vast expanse of white snow. It was a beautiful sight. Unhooking his straps, Remy looked to the lieutenant and waited for him to give the order. Angel did the same as she followed his gaze to their commanding officer. Obviously she had come to the same conclusion as him regarding what was about to happen.

Satisfied with what he heard over the comm., the Boss looked to his marines, "We are now a little over half a klick away from the facility. Reaper, you and Angel will get off here and provide overwatch of the facility. You see anything that looks hostile you take it out. The rest of us will take the Pelican the rest of the way and disembark at the facility itself. Any questions?"

He was answered only with silence. They knew what they had to do. The time they spent during The War and even afterwards as the aided the civilian population as well as quelling a few riots and rebellions had left them with a strong mentality in doing their job.

"Good. Angel, Reaper, do your job. Once we have the all clear I'll signal you and you can move in."

The two of the nodded to their CO showing him that they understood what they had to do and jumped out of the bird. A wave of freezing cold air washed over them as they exited the warmth of the Pelican. Almost immediately it felt like their faces had gone numb. A light breezed passed over the icy desert making matters even worse. Both of them decided to pull up their balaclava's to cover most of their faces from the cold with only their eyes being exposed. As they stood there they watched the Pelican that they were just occupying ascend and move towards the facility.

Spotting a small rise of snow and ice to take position on the two of them moved to it double time. Once they were at their position they lay down in a prone position and began checking their weapons. Remy made sure he had a round ready in the sniper rifle and zeroed in on the facility. Satisfied he then checked the M7S silenced submachine gun, which he had for when they entered the outpost, to make sure it was loaded. Turning to Angel he watched as she checked her M7S and chambered a round into her DMR. They had both decided before they left headquarters that they would both use the same back up weapon so they could exchange ammunition if needed. Angel gave Remy a nod to signal that she was ready and they both then looked through their scopes towards the outpost.

So this was the outpost that had gone dark. At first glance there wasn't anything spectacular about it. To the left of it was what appeared to be a combination between a garage and a hangar as he could see a pair of UH-144 Falcon Transports off to one side along with a single Pelican dopship and over to another side were a handful of troop transport warthogs. The outpost itself was fairly large as it was two stories tall and spanned at least a hundred yards in length with several branching segments that sprouted out of it. Allowing himself to take in every inch of and looking for possible hostiles, Remy sat there quietly as he watched as the Pelican touched down and unloaded the rest of the squad.

Patiently they watched as 2nd squad moved into position and made their way into the outpost. There was no comm. chatter as so the two of them didn't know what was going on inside that building. All they could do was provide exterior support by making sure no hostiles try to make their way to the now landed dropship. Time seemed to pass by slowly. Uneasiness began to form in Remy's gut. Even though sniping and providing overwatch was part of his element, he still didn't like the idea of the rest of the squad being out of his sight.

"What do you think is taking them so long Remy?"

"No idea Rose, all I do know is they better hurry up. I don't feel right about this place."

He could see her shake her head out of the corner of his eye.

"Me either. Something feels . . . wrong here."

More time passed as the two of them continued to scant the garage and windows of the outpost for movement. Finally they heard a click over the comm. as the welcome voice of the lieutenant sounded over it, "Move in."

Remy slung his rifle over his back then shouldered his M7S as Angel did the same. Moving at a light jog they made it to the door of the main building in ten minutes and covered each other as they moved inside. Clearing the room as they entered they saw the rest of the squad encircling a group of scientists. Giving them a quick once over, Remy counted seven of them, five males and two females. He then reported to his CO.

"Area is clear sir. No hostiles as far as we can tell."

The lieutenant took in the information then relayed what he and the others had learned so far. Concern was etched all over his face as he had apparently learned something that he didn't like how it sounded. One of the scientists stepped forward.

"Now that the rest of your men are here will you now let us return to our work at trying to access the rest of the facility?"

A cold gaze soon set on the man that had spoken as the lieutenant turned his gaze on him, "You still haven't told us exactly is going on down here. Now before I send my men further into this facility I want to know exactly happened and why it went dark?"

Reluctantly the man began to tell his tale.

"Three days ago some of our scientist decided it was time to take the next step in his research, now exactly what happened I am not sure, but there was some sort of chemical spill in one of the labs and as per protocol it was sealed off. Said scientist as well as three of his colleagues were trapped inside. Our security force tried to enter the lab with no success. So we decided it was time to call for help. It was at that time that the power suddenly went out. The entire facility fell into darkness. I'm not sure what happened during that time, but those of us here stayed together and tried to figure out how the power went out and how we could possibly get it back on. We were still at it when suddenly it came back on twelve hours ago, which as you know is when we sent out a call for help."

"You said you were with security personnel at one point. Where are they now?"

"Now that I couldn't tell you."

Lieutenant Hawke still wasn't happy with what he was hearing.

"Okay. Exactly how many people are stationed here?"

"Over one hundred researchers, that's including me and my companions, twenty security personnel and five pilots for the Pelican and Falcons that you undoubtedly saw outside."

"Do you mind telling me where all of these people could have run off to?"

The scientist shook his head. Apparently the only people he had seen the last three days were his companions and the marines of 2nd squad. Slowly Lieutenant Hawke began to pace the room. Their current situation wasn't exactly favorable. They all knew that. Not having enough intel and having over a hundred people missing inside a closed facility wasn't exactly favorable. His thinking finally coming to a close, the Hawke decided to address his men and the researchers.

"This is how things are going to go. I'm going to call in the flight crew to watch over the scientists. Lloyd you will be the CO of fieteam Echo. I want you to take Angel, Reaper, and Boomer and head upstairs to the second level and see if you can find any of our missing people. Me, Weasel, Doc, and Miner will be Delta. We'll proceed through the first level and check for other MIAs. Check in ever twenty minutes. You see anything; you call it in and let me know what's going on. We'll regroup here in two hours. Now move."

Before the thought of hesitation could even come to pass the two teams split up and moved on to their tasks. They knew what they had to do. Rounding up a few stray scientist and security personnel would be a walk in the park. Or so they thought.


End file.
